Faculty Chamber Ensembles:

At Ole Miss we are especially proud of our many outstanding ensembles. The half-time show by the Pride of the South, a 300-member marching band, is a highlight of every home football game, while smaller pep bands travel to away games and also play at basketball games. During the spring semester, three concert bands perform concerts on campus and tour around the state. Each year the Lafayette-Oxford-University Orchestra gives three concerts featuring major symphonic repertoire in the spectacular Ford Center for the Performing Arts. The orchestra’s annual concerto competition is a much anticipated event: one or two winners are selected to appear as soloists. Ensembles from our very active choral program, which include the Concert Singers and four other choruses, frequently perform at both regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. In recent years, they have mounted several major choral masterpieces, including: Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Verdi’s Requiem.

Our smaller student ensembles are equally important for the experience that they provide and for their many performances, which enrich the cultural life of the University and the entire Oxford community. These ensembles include: two jazz bands, the opera theater, the African drum and dance ensemble, and several percussion ensembles, Finally, members of our faculty perform in three chamber ensembles: the Mississippi Brass (a brass quintet), the Ole Miss Winds (a woodwind quintet), and the Oxford Piano Trio. These offer a distinguished series of concerts, both on and off campus, every season.